Car-replacer.



W. J. DIXON.

UAR REPLAGER.

APIPLIGATION FILED 00'1.30, 1911.

Patented Dec. 30, 1913.

UNITED STATES PATENT orinos.

WILLIAM J. DIXON, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

CAR-REPLACER.

Patented Dec. so, 1913.

Application filed October 30, 1911. Serial No. 657,550.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM J. Dixon, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Replacers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to car replacers, and has for its object to produce a device of this character by which, used in duplicate, the operation of replacing a railway car upon the tracks may be easily and quickly performed, and which may be used on either the right or left hand rail and without re, gard to the direction in which the derailed car is to be moved.

With this andother objects in view, the invention consists in certain novel and peculiar features of construction and organization as hereinafter described and claimed; and in order that it may be fully understood reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1, is a top plan View of asection of railway track temporarily equipped with a pair of replacers embodying my invention. Fig. 2, is an enlarged section. on the line Ill--11 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3, is a section on the line III-III of Fig. 1.

In the said drawing, the main body of the car replacer 1 is in the form of a block, which, in side view tapers downwardly and rearwardly and in plan view tapers forwardly: In the vertical plane of its longitudinal center the replacer has a longitudinal bifurcation 2, extending from a point about midway its length to its rear extremity, and from the front end of the bifurcation and forming a continuation thereof, it

nel 3 of suflicient size to snugly receive a track rail of the largest size. The replacer is adapted to .be placed over a rail, so that the latter shall extend through the bifurcation and channel as shown, and to aid in preventing it slipping or creeping on the rail in a forward direction asa car is being pulled upon it, it is provided at opposite sides of its bifurcation and channel, with dethe, replacer 18 provided in its under side with a chanvided with upward extensions or flanges 6,

which at T form cams which converge forwardly at greater angles than the inner sides of the flanges 5,}a'11d said extensions near the front extremity bf the replacer, are formed with short forwardly diverging walls or faces 8. Between the walls or faces 8, a substantially triangular guide lug 9 pro- JBClJS upward from the upper or inclined face of the replacer so as to divide the space between flanges 5 into a pair of forwardly diverging channels 10, each extending in the same general direction as the cam 7 at the opposite side of the guide lug, and so spaced from such cam that when the outer face of a car wheel bears agalnst one of the cams 7, the flange of said car wheel shall be guided so as to pass into the channel 10 at the opposite side of the guide lug.

Along the margins of the bifurcation of are upwardly projecting ribs 11 of preferably less height than the depth of a wheel flange, and near their rear ends said ribs 11 are formed with upwardly projectingperforated ears 12, with one of which a link of a chain 13 is pivotally connected, said chain being providedwith a hook 14 at its opposite end, for engagement with the other perforated car. At its front end and at opposite sides of channel 13, the replacer is preferably provided with recesses 15, with 111 which are loosely pivoted gravity dogs 16, and the lower ends of the dogs extend at such angles to the length of the dogs that when said ends rest upon the bottoms of recesses 15', the dogsextend convergingly upward as shown in Fig. 3. The dogs are cut away at their upper inner corners to provide supplemental shoulders 17 fora purpose which hereinafterappears.

said recess with a hinge. relation is the hook terminal 20 of a wheel-lowering toe-piece 19, the body of the toe-piece being of substantially triangular form in side view with its hypotenuseside sloping downwardly and forwardly in 'order that the wheel when properly alined with the track by the relacer, will roll downward on said toe-piece instead of dropping or falling from the side lug directly onto the rail, as under the weight of a heavy object,'such as a locomotive or a car, said dropping is attended with considerable danger of injury to the wheels.

In practice there will be two replacers used, each being fitted as shown, upon one of the rails 21 of a-car track and upon at least two-of the cross ties 22 of said track, so that some of the spurs 4- shall be embedded in a the underlying ties without regard to whether the same are equally spaced ornot. When the replacers are thus arranged the chains are passed under 'therails and the hooks Mare engaged with the lugs 12 at l-the opposite sides of the rails from the lugs to which the chains are permanently attached, thus utilizing the rails to prevent upward movement of the rear ends of the replacers when the weight of the car is on the front ends thereof. The 'chains'also serve by hearing against the adjacent ties, to prevent'forward creeping of the replacers.

As the replacers are placed in the positions explained, the rails, as they enter the chan nels 3; force thedogs l6 outwardly and then permit them to swing back under the balls of the rails, it being understood that if the rails are low rails, the shoulders 17 engage the lower corners of the balls'of the rails, 'so that in either event the weight of the car imposed. on the rear ends of the replacers cannot tilt the front ends of the same upwardly. I I

Assuming that a car is off the track with its wheels upon the cross tiesand that the replacers have been secured upon the track at the desired distance ahead of thedisplaced wheels, the engine is started forward so' as to cause the displaced wheels to ride upward on the 'upper or inclined faces of the replacers, one of the wheels climbing the replacer outward, of the bifurcation of thelatter and the other climbing the other replacer inward of the bifurcation 50f the same." As the wheels continue to ascend, the tread portion of the one outward of'theadjacent track rail, will overlie and partly rest on flange 5] ferred to will come in"; contact with the adj acent cam 7 which will then forceboth wheels The side lug is provided in its upper front end with an arcuate recess 18, and engaging.

in "such direction that eventually they will stand directly over the longitudinal centers of the replacers just rearward of the guide lugs, at which time the flanges of the wheels will be at the inner sides of the guide lugs,

it being noticed in this connection, that the extension 6 at the outer'side of the flange 5,

of the right-hand replacer, -uards against the wheels being pushed too far by the said engaged cam. The forward movementcon tinuing, the tread portions of the wheels ride 'upon the guide lugs 9, and then pass over a the hinge terminals oftoe-pieces 19, and roll downward over the latter fand are deposited without material shock or jar upon the rails, it being noticed in this connection that the toe-pieces 19 are so connected that they can swing downwardly to a lower position than they occupy in Fig. 2, for the purpose of resting upon shallower or lower rails.

To guard against any possibility or danger of a wheel dropping into the bifurcation 2 of a' replacer and wedging between the rail therein andthe adjacent wall of such bifurcation, and thereby perhaps breaking the re- .placer, I have provided the ribs 11, which act-as abutments to defiect 'the wheels into parallel relation with the track rails,

From the above description itvwill be apparent that I have produceda car replacer, embodying the features of advantage enumerated as desirable and I wishit to be understood that while I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment of. the

same I reserve the right to 'make all changes properly falling within thespirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim: 1. A car-replacing block provided with means for securing the same to a track; said-1 block being, provided with .guiding flanges upon its top surface, said. flanges extending: along the sides of the block and widening. and converging from oneend f the block to the other, a second pair of gu-idingflanges'; 4

mounted one on each. of the firstfiahges at:

the widenedportions thereof, and convcerging at 'a greater angle than,and toward the same end of the block as the first flanges, and

a triangular lug located between the-ifirst 1- flanges at their widened ends.

2. A car replacer, comprisinga bl'ock triangular form provided with converging side walls projecting upwardly above thetop v face of the block and With-a triangular lug pro ecting up'wardly from said face betweenthe said walls where the space between them is narrowest, and a toe-piece pivotally conc nected to said lug and adapted to swing into different vertical positions with relation to the adjacent end of the block to ac'commo- I date different heights of rails.

a longitudinal channel in its underside to receive a rail, and with recesses in its front end opening into said channel at opposite sides thereof, and upwardly-converging gravity dogs in said recesses, pivoted at their lower ends to the block and provided at their inner edges below their upper extremities, with upwardly-facing shoulders, and capable of swinging outwardly to permit the head of a 10 to be passed up between them.

In testimony whereof aflix my signature, in the presence of two wltnesses.

WILLIAM J. DIXON.

Witnesses HELEN C. RODGERS, G. Y. THORPE.

flopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. G. 

